Locating Wills & Probate Records

When I need to find wills or probate records, I usually start at FamilySearch to see what is available. I go to their online catalog, enter the place name, and see what is available under the “probate records” category.

Seeking the Probate of James B. Leeds

Recently, I was seeking the probate of James B. Leeds who appeared to have died in Ripley County, Indiana, between the 1840 and 1850 censuses. The FamilySearch result page showed two items under probate records:

• • Probate for Nov. 1818 to Feb. 1837 – too early for James
  • Will records for 1839 to 1922 – a good possibility for James!

The “will records” included more than just wills! There were dozens of microfilms listed, but they fell into 3 categories:

• • wills
  • probate order books
  • complete probate order books

Unfortunately, these files are locked and can only be accessed from a Family History Center or a FamilySearch affiliate library.

Are these records available online?

FamilySearch Wiki

Arguably the best place to start your research in a given location is the FamilySearch Wiki. You can enter a county and state and find a lot of information about that location – including information about probate records.

The wiki page for Ripley County, Indiana, showed that Ancestry.com has a database titled Indiana Wills and Probate Records 1798-1999.

Indiana Wills and Probate on Ancestry

Heading over to Ancestry,  I looked under “search” and then “card catalog.” For the title, I entered “Indiana wills and probate” then clicked on the link.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this recordset had a search box! But quickly disappointed when I searched for James Leeds…and got NOTHING!

I checked to make sure the search feature worked by searching for “James Smith” and got 161 results. I also searched for “Smith” in Ripley County to make sure that Ripley County was included and got 31 results.

So, does James Leeds not appear in this database?

Browsing the Collection

Besides the search feature, there is also a “browse” feature for this database. You can start by choosing a county, so I selected “Ripley County.” I found the same three categories that had been listed on FamilySearch:

• • wills
  • probate order books
  • complete probate order books

Will Book B covered the right time frame (1839-1862), so I opened that database to see if it had an index. It did, but there were no “Leeds” listed.

My next plan was to search Probate Order Books B (1837-1843), C (1843-1846), and D (1846-1849). Thankfully, Probate Order Book B included an index. And there were entries for the estate of James Leeds!

Multiple pages were listed, so I looked at all of them. The case continued through 1847 into books C and D.

This file really helped me put this family together. The final settlement of the estate listed the 13 children also providing married names for the daughters! (See image above.)

This final settlement appears to be based on the selling of a piece of land to someone named “Falls.” Unfortunately, a receipt was lying over part of the document when it was imaged so parts of the page – including the buyer’s first name – were hidden.

Complete Probate (or Order) Book

Indiana also has “complete” probate or order books – something I’ve never seen. On Ancestry, they call these “Complete Order Books” from 1834 to 1848 and “Complete Probate Books” from 1848 to 1917. These books “compile every action made by the court pertaining to a certain estate.” This is a wonderful find which helps me get past the receipt that was microfilmed in the probate book!

(The quote is from the “Indiana’s Gore – Genealogy Resources” post found here. It also has a searchable index to the Ripley County records! )

This book also has wonderful additions not seen in the probate – including complete word-for-word descriptions of deeds that are only mentioned in the other probate books! Possibly the most important page is that final deed that gave land to someone named “Falls.” This book records the entire deed and shows that the land was sold not by Eva Leeds or the heirs of James Leeds, but by Samuel H. Spooner, an appointed commissioner, to a Michael Falls. (See image 312 of Complete Order Book, Volume C.)

Searching for Wills and Probate

If you are searching for wills and probate records, I suggest you start with the FamilySearch Wiki. Also, if you find a searchable database but can’t find your ancestor’s name, try browsing the collection! If the individual books don’t have indexes, you might have to look through the book page by page. But, in the end, it might very well be worth it!